Monday, December 6, 2010

My definition of moderate Muslim

A blogger on annarbor.com asked if a Moderate Muslim is a Muslim who does not practice Islam.
Here is my answer as I attempted to give a definition of Moderate Muslim. First to be considered a Muslim, the person has to practice the five pillars of Islam and believes in God, all the prophets with the sub-text of Mohammad ( May peace be upon him) being the last messenger, the three holy books and the day of recompense. You can't be considered a Muslim if you do not practice.

Second what constitutes a moderate Muslim is his views about Jihad. On one side a Mulsim believes that it is an obligation on all Muslims to fight and convert non- Muslims and on the other side a Mulsim believes in a peaceful message of Islam.

Within these two sides there is a myriad of shades:

A Muslim, who believes in Jihad, feels the need to support it financially or by bearing arms and join the rank of Jihadists. Let's call that Muslim a shade of red.

A Muslim who believes in Jihad and feels the need to support it emotionally because his lifestyle will not allow him to join the cause physically. Let's call that Muslim a shade of amber.

A Muslim who believes in Jihad but also believes that Islam will not triumph over all religions in his life-time therefore he does not actively condemn Jihad, and he secretly holds those who do it in high esteem. Let's call that Muslim a shade of yellow.

A Muslim who believes that each person is allowed to believe in his or her religion because peace is the real message of Koran. Let's call that Muslim a shade of Green.

The only problem is that Muslims who represent the shade of green are not activists by nature. They are peaceful people. I am one of the moderate Muslims of that shade of green but I believe that we get busy actively showing that we denounces Jihadist’s definition of Jihad because this issue is red hot.